Safety paper box cutter



Jan. 17, 1956 R. 1 BAILEY SAFETY PAPER BOX CUTTER Filed June 28, 1954 1NVENTOR Russen Lailey HTTORNE Y.

United States Patent 23.39.39 SAFEllY-RAFERQYQUTTER .RussellL. Bailey,tCulver;Gity, Calif.

Application June 28, 1954, Serial No. 439,584

3 Claims. (Cl. 302) This invention relates to safety paper box cutters, and more particularly to a cutter designed for cutting paper boxes and other purposes, and which has a safety guard over the cutting edge which is automatically moved out of the way as the cutter is applied to the surface to be cut.

Among the salient objects of the invention are:

To provide a simple, practical and economical cutter device with a safety guard over the knife edge to prevent accidental cutting of the person using it, and which does not have to be lirst moved by hand out of the way, but which is automatically moved out of coverage of the cutting edge of the knife as it is applied to the surface to be cut.

To provide in a cutter of the character referred to, a spring-pressed guard member which is normally and yieldingly held in protecting position over the knife.

To provide such a device in which razor blades can be used as the cutter and in which said blade can be reversed when one cutting edge becomes dull.

To provide in a cutter of the character referred to, a guard having a cord-receiving notch in its edge, whereby it can be placed over a cord on a package or box and easily cut by the simple movement of the knife edge across the notch in which the cord rests.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following more detailed description of one practical embodiment thereof, taken with the accompanying drawing, which shows an embodiment of the invention. In the drawing:

Figure l is a Side elevation of a cutter embodying the invention, being full size;

Figure 2 is a top edge view thereof;

Figure 3 is a bottom edge view thereof;

Figure 4 is an enlarged cross section, without the spring, taken on line 4 4, on Fig. 1;

Figure 5 is a side elevation showing the application of the cutter to a box, and indicating how the guard is automatically moved by engagement with the surface to be cut;

Figure 6 is a side elevation, showing how the spring can be flipped from the guard and the guard can be thrown back out of the way in order to remove the blade from the holder for reversal;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary side view of a modified form of guard, having a lip thereon to rest upon the top of a box when it is desired to cut into the side of the box, near the top, to prevent cutting anything in the box; and

Figure 8 is a sectional view thereof taken on line 8-8, Fig. 7.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, my invention as here shown for explanitory purposes, has a body 8, formed by folding a sheet of metal upon itself lengthwise, the rearward portion thereof being pressed ilatwise to gether while the forward end thereof is left sufficiently open to receive a blade therein. The forward lower corner of the body 8 is beveled, or cut off, as at 8', for a purpose again preferred to.

The front end of said body has an opening 9 therethrough, lengthwise cthereof, .as shown, .and .at oneside saidopeningruns out through the end, .while the other .side

has an end wall or portion at ,theouter `endof .said opening,

., 1S .SQQnat 9', Fig.6. Thus arazorbladeB, can be in- .srtadtendwise hetweenthe parts @Maid-tbody, .with the .151 lrtsaid -flalade .ttlts in t Said .opening as liadifatfl in Fig. 6. When the blade is fully inserte p ,p hoop ,p the outer end of the heel of the blade bears against the end wall 9', and must be pressed inwardly slightly to be free to be moved outwardly out of the body opening 9, as indicated in Fig. 6. This can represent the removal of the blade, or the insertion of the blade, the guard being up out of the way.

A guard member 10 is formed by folding a sheet of metal upon itself, U-form, to fit down over the outer end of said body and said blade, as shown. ln the present form of the invention, the guard member 10 is shown pivotally connected at one corner, near the end of the body 8, as at 11, with a portion of its rear top cut out, as at 10, to give clearance for tilting the guard back over the body 8, as seen in Fig. 6. A spring 12 is shown looped around the pivot 11, with one end hooked over the guard to yieldingly hold said guard in operating position, as seen in Fig. 1, while the other end of said spring can be inserted through a hole in the body, as at 13, or otherwise, as may be desired.

Said guard member 1t) is provided in its lower edge with a cord-receiving notch 10, whereby said guard can be put down on a package with said notch over a cord, where by, when the handle is raised the blade moves across the notch and cuts the cord, as will be understood from Fig. 5, if the cord were shown in said notch.

Sometimes it may be desired to cut a box along its side, near the top, without cutting any of the contents of the box. In Figs. 7 and 8, I have shown the guard provided with guide lip, as 10a, which can be placed atwise on the top edge of the box, as seen in Fig. 7, whereby the cutting blade will move along through the wall of the box, close to the top, as indicated in said Fig. 7, while the guard lip 10a prevents it from moving down and makes the cut parallel with the top edge or corner of the box.

Referring to Fig. 2, it will be noted that an indication mark 14 is made to indicate the plane of the cutting blade so that the user can apply the blade more accurately to the line on which he wishes to cut.

I am aware that changes in the details of construction and arrangement as here shown, can be made within the scope of the invention, and I do not, therefore, limit the invention to these details except as I may be limited by the hereto appended claims forming a part of said specification.

I claim:

l. A safety cutter of the character referred to including a body having at one end two parallel sides with space therebetween designed to receive a razor blade lengthwise therein, said sides having openings therethrough near the upper edge and lengthwise thereof, to receive the heel of said blade therein, one of said openings being open at its forward end and the other of said openings having a wall at its forward end closing said opening and forming an abutment for the forward end of said heel. of said blade to prevent its accidental removal, the end of the other side being flexible to permit it to be exed laterally sufficiently for the end of said blade and heel to be moved forwardly over said end wall for removing it from said body, and a guard member pivotally connected at one corner thereof to said body to normally ove-rlie the end of said body and the cutting edge of said blade to prevent accident, a spring yieldingly holding said guard member in its operating position, whereby as said cutter is applied to a surface to be cut said guard member is automatically moved awayfrom `said cutting edge as said cutting edge moves into and through the member being cut.

2. A cutter as set forth in claim l in which said side members have their forward lower corners cut away to a bevel to expose the forward lower cutting corner of said blade when said guard is raised.

3. A safety cutter as set forth in claim 2 in which the guard member is of U-form in cross section and straddles the end of said body and extends down over both sides of said cutter blade.

References Cited in the le of this patent,

UNITED STATES PATENTS Lurie Jan. 16, 1940 Walters May 29, 1945 Van Fleet Apr. 25, 1950 Drake June 3, 1952 Jensen Jan. 13, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Oct. 9, 1924 

